Page 89 of Kiss Her Goodbye

“He’s running photos of the scripted mess through an encryption software.”

“An encryption software?Huh, I wonder if I can find that as an app.”

More silence.

“Any more breakthroughs from Isaad’s cell phone, Sabera’s cell phone?You had a term for it… wait, I remember!Any new evidence?”

“Are you trying to piss me off?”

“Generally I don’t have to try.”I change my tone to dead serious.“I am attempting to keep a little girl safe.Whatever happened to her parents, we both know she could be next.”

Detective Marc sighs heavily.I don’t think he’s a bad guy.He’s just a product of a system with limited thinking.

“Isaad Ahmadi’s phone had half a dozen incoming calls from a burner phone,” he supplies.“All lasting less than thirty seconds, none leaving messages.”

“You can’t trace the burner?”

“Nope.”

“What about triangulating the signal or whatever that is?”

“It’s possible a few of those calls bounced off a tower near the warehouse district.Including the same evening as someone went whack-a-mole with the two male vics.”

“So someone calling from the vicinity of the first crime scene,” I muse.“Maybe the bad guys making contact with Isaad?Or Sabera having dispatched bad guys, calling Isaad for a ride out of there?”

“Whoever did the calling, it got Isaad there, and we all know how that ended.”Slight pause.“For the record, the ME confirmed Isaad Ahmadi had blood on his clothes that matched the two Afghans discovered bludgeoned to death.She then tested the blood on their hands and clothing and got a match to Isaad.So definitely the three had some kind of altercation.How that ended with all of them dead, in two different locations, twenty-four hours apart, however, remains unclear.”

“They lured Isaad to the warehouse.He got into a struggle with them, allowing Sabera time to flee.And then…”

And then I have the same problem Detective Marc has.Then someone should’ve won the fight.Isaad kills the men with a hammer, he and Sabera get away.Or the two men overwhelm Isaad, taking him prisoner to interrogate and torture for the next twenty-four hours.

Except the two men die the evening of Sabera’s escape; Isaad isn’t killed until the following day.Which is a particularly disturbing scenario.

Because Detective Marc is cooperating, I fill him in on my other breakthrough for the day.

“Sabera was hospitalized for seventy-two hours on a psych hold.Had some kind of nervous breakdown-slash-PTSD episode.Looking at her meds list, which includes Haldol… is she of sound mind is definitely worth questioning.”

“Haldol as in the antipsychotic most often used for treating schizophrenia?”

“That’s the one.”

“Great.”

“On the bright side, something bad is definitely happening.Sabera is definitely missing, Isaad was definitely murdered, some strange men definitely tried to grab Zahra.This isn’t all in Sabera’s head.”

“On the bright side?”

“Trust me, I regretted the words the moment I said them.Current theory… we’re in the middle of unfinished business.Most likely it involves Jamil, who may be Zahra’s father and Sabera’s first love and is supposedly dead, except you and I know that’s not the same as actually dead.Then again, there’s a big difference between international custody disputes and riddles involving hair locks and abducted human keys.Your thoughts?”

Detective Marc has a unique way to make sounds that aren’t actually intelligible, and yet communicate just fine.

“New mathematical puzzles,” I prompt him, returning to the beginning.“Maybe if Chen studied them…”

In response, I get: “What was the name of Sabera’s psych doc?”

“Dr.Cindy Porway.Checking out her LinkedIn page, she looks really nice, like the kind of woman who would save stray dogs and give up her seat on a bus for the elderly.Maybe she’ll take pity on us.”

“I’ll pay her a visit.Given the circumstances, she might talk.”